Finished the Ravenclaw bag

So I may have "finished" the bag, but I still need to wash & block the darned thing. And... that's right, line it as well. I am just proud that I managed to finish a fair isle piece. I know it's only two colors & that is not really a feat for the normal avid knitter, however, as my first fair isle project, I'm just glad the yarn didn't get so knotted up that it choked one of my cats.
Speaking of cats, anyone know a good way to keep your little darlings from eating your most delicious, expensive yarns? Really, any yarn? I seem to be struggling with the discipline for this latest "trick". You'd think someone who can teach three cats to walk on leashes & ride in the car w/o getting sick or scared should be able to handle this little task. However, I apparantly am just not up to the challenge. I always wind up clapping my hands at them or smacking their little bottoms (not hard, mind you... They're my babies after all). But these things only keep them away for a matter of minutes. I guess mommy just isn't all that scary.
Oh well, enough for now. Have to go run & get lunch out of the oven. I've really got to learn to rely less on that oven. It's almost 90 degrees outside, we have no ar conditioner & I'm running the bloody oven twice a day. I just can't bring myself to microwave DIY foods. Microwave meals are fine, they're designed to be massacred in the death-box, but some things are just not meant for that.
Ok, really do have to jet now. Blessed be!

And this is the little princess

Brandon & Ellie earlier this month:

A Gatorade "junkie" (don't worry, the lid is on the bottle!) she's a ham for the camera...:

This is my favorite picture of her. This was actually taken last Halloween when I was taking her to Susana's church carnival. I promise, we didn't have her dressed up as a lion in November, the date was just wrong on Susana's camera.

Here be swatches...

Today, I ate at Arby's. Not an unusual thing (I have very little will power when it comes to curly fries) However, today, it made me very very ill. So... I left work early. And instead of sleeping, what did I do? Watched CSI & knitted. I started my Ravenclaw Fair Isle Bag and am now about 3/4 of the way through the knitting. My fair isle looks a little lumpy/squishy, but I'm hoping that blocking it will help.

I must confess... I have never blocked anything in my life. I don't even know how to go about it, but I will cross that hurdle once I've finished the execution step. And lining the bag is another story all-together. I can quilt with the best of them, but lining garments is actually very time consuming for me. I don't know what it is about doing that, but it takes me FOREVER! Alas, I think the bag may simply wind up being undergarment-less.

But in preparation for attempting to get my dearest boyfriend to purchase the Level I Master Knitter requirement/assignment pkg for me for Christmas, I have begun to knit swatches. Again, something I've never taken the time to do before. I've been mostly about quantity, not quality. I think it's time to change that. So far, I am using Caron Simply Soft (cause it's cheap & I'm poor) and my Suzanne's size 6 dpns. I'm hoping to branch out to some different needles/fibers soon, but here are my first few attempts:

Moss Stitch

Andalusian Stitch

I used this site as a resource for some stitch patterns. I cannot believe this resource was out there for so long & I never used it. Well, I am making up for lost time.

On the homefront, my niece, Ellie, had her first ear infection while she was with her father & his family this past week. The fever spiked so suddenly that she also had her first seizure. Bridgette (Brandon's sister, and Ellie's mom) was understandably shaken up. We had her over to make sure she stayed as calm as possible (she is now about 12 weeks pregnant with her first child w/ her new husband, Ben) and then Brandon's mom Susana & Ben, came over later. Our little house was very full. I had forgotten what it was like to have everyone there at once. Bridgette & Ben wound up driving up to PA to see Ellie the next day, which I am very glad of. I don't think either of them would have rested soundly had they not been able to see her before the next weekend when they were to have picked her up. It's a little bit of a shame that this is the first time her father has seen her in over a month & the visit was marred by this awful happening. But luckily, Ellie is doing quite well. On anitbiotics, and ornery as ever :) In all honesty, I was a seizure kid myself. When they told us her seizure only lasted about 10 seconds I breathed a sigh of relief. I am quite aware that even a seizure that short can do lasting damage, but it was a much better sign than if she had had a grand mal seizure. I just can't wait until we can see her again, and I can make sure for myself that she is the same littly punky we all know & love to bits. Keep our little punkin' in your thoughts, if you can... it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! Blessed be. @-v- H.

More for today :)

Soon I will be taking some time off from making "things" to inprove my knitting and crocheting skills by making my own swatch/guage notebook. I want to try some new patterns/stitches but I want to do so w/o the commitment of a large pattern. And maybe after my tension issues disappear, I will go for my Master Knitter Certification from The Knitting Guild Association. But until then, I need to post my most recent FO's.

So here is my finished MILK purse. I used some cabling from a book in my knitting library, but I don't have it in the office with me. I will relay the name of the book in a later posting. However, I have found that my skills are very, very lacking in the sewing/lining department. But we don't need to show that part, now do we? No. Who needs to see the inside of a purse? Not I; please say not you, either. I beg of you...





And also, a take on this pattern... I made him into my own little mini-monster. He reminds me a little of Sully from the Disney/Pixar movie Monsters, Inc. His name is Liam, and I have decided he is an Irish monster eyeball, and he is laboriously trekking his way back home to Eire after having wound up on a cruise liner to the States. Please don't ask; he is quite embarrassed that he took the wrong boat. He only meant to go see his girlfriend, a lovely vampire eyeball, in London. Now, he will have a lot of explaining to do when he gets home. (Well, not until I crochet her... but then... he will have to spend a lot of time on his knees... err... lids, begging for forgiveness).

And in profile:

For now, I am gearing up for another long work week. And counting down the days to my vacation. Brandon, my dearest boyfriend, has his b-day on 2 September & mine is on 8 September. This year, we have taking off the 2nd through the 8th and I cannot wait!! Perhaps I will do some swatching... Who knows...

Meet my Daemon

Heather attempts Blackwork...

I have had these photos for quite some time now, just haven't posted them. I've been sidetracked with my knitting & crochet. However, I stumbled upon a blackwork design book by and I fell in love with the style. I did my first blackwork project (a sampler from her book) in dark green thread, and then moved on to attempt to design my own sampler. Here is the almost end result of my first blackwork piece, and then some pictures of the piece framed.

For my own sampler, I decided to rely mostly on traditional blackwork designs and then took some smaller motifs and worked them in amidst some repeated patterns. I have yet to finish this sampler, but I am still working on it.

I really do get easily distracted before finishing what I start :( But I am quite proud of what I have accomplished in this new form. And the back of the piece doesn't look too shabby either. I'm starting to become proficient in the Holbein running stitch. If you're interested in blackwork at all, there are some amazing sites online (http://www.blackworkarchives.com/bwbib.html), and I highly recommend Beginner's Guide to Blackwork and Beautiful Blackwork Samplers by Lesley Wilkins.

The Evolution of Franken-pumpkin... and other sordid tales

This mild-mannered little guy started out as a test-guage project. I didn't have any autumnal colors on hand, but I was dying to try a new pattern for this fall. And... voila!




The evolution of Franken-pumpkin begins in the workshop of Frau von Yarninator. Once a mild-mannered house-frau, her genius mind became slightly cracked when one of her more recent attempts at knitting a lovely little sock pattern blew up in her face. After that infamous day, she no longer wanted to knit ordinary objects. She became obsessed with creating her own little mini-monster...

Several prototypes later, Frau von Yarninator settled on the graveyard look for her new beau. Taking him to the observation tower of her small cottage home (yes, a tower. It was added on as a "honey-do" project by the late Dr. von Yarninator), she tied him to the metal working table and began to give him shape. From the bolts on the neck (very in this season) to the small stem (for she knew her Franken-pumpkin would never have stem envy), every detail was taken into account. Except...

The FACE. Ah well, not all experiments can be a success. Frau von Yarninator will simply have to pay more attention when stitching on the face of her newest creation next year.

***********************************************************************************

And now, onto a real post. This weekend, I have so much to accomplish, but I just couldn't help starting a new project. It's a small one, though. I wanted to make myself a M.I.L.K. purse. For those of you who are not familiar with the term ( and by the responses of my friends and family, that would be most of you), it refers to M(oney) I(d) L(ipstick) K(eys). And I felt the undeniable need to do some cabling. So, I am working on a small purse w/ braided cables and two simple cables on a background of reverse stockinette. Soon, I want to do an Aran project bag. I know, I know. Finish what you start, then start more. But who among us actually follows that rule? Not I.

But to end the post, a few more FO's. First is Fetching from knitty.com, and a Cowl/Neck-collar I designed as a partner piece. And then, cabled fingerless gloves. I'll post the yarn and needle sizes later... Don't have the reference card on me. And last but not least, some severed fingers to round off some Halloween knitted objects :)

Have a good evening, all! @--^-- Heather

And now for randomness...

So this is my first pattern, kind of. It's going to be a crocheted lingerie top, or a bikini cover up, or something like that. It's got some scalloped detailing around the bust area, and the back ties, rather seductively, just under the shoulder blades. The bust was slightly too loose for my, err..., ample assets, so the flower closure did double duty as an ornamental feature and "cincher". This little unfinished top actually does provide quite a bit of support for a yarn only garment. :)





And an upside-down close-up of the flower detailing:

On the non-crafty front: this has been the week that would not die. Seriously. I know I only work 4 days a week, but those days I do work, I am in the stupid building for 11 hours, if not more. This week, the powers-that-be required us to all do a half hour of extra time before or after our shift. I suppose this would not sound so bad to most people. But I was prepared to chew off my own ear (stop the mental images, guys :)) to get off the phones by that point in the week, and I still had three more days to go. And I had started my first pair of socks at the beginning of the week, so I was slightly stressed out about that. Knitting garments with fitted details is something I have never attempted. And as those who know me are painfully aware, I do not deal well with doing something poorly. So what it's my first time...Who cares, I should still be able to do it well.
So more pics will follow. Lately, I have been an FO machine! But please do not get used to that. I get easily distracted. Peace out, peeps! *

*yes, I know, I am deemed un-cool simply by uttering that phrase, but I said it... yep, so there :)

Please don't get used to this...

BUT.... I have another FO to add. Several actually. I have started my Halloween crochet and knitting for this year. I am currently working on a Dem Bones scarf from Monstercrochet.com and several of lady linoleum's free patterns as well.

I have finished a glove from Purl Bee, however the yarn I selected wound up knitting up too tight, so I decided not to finish off the pair. Just something to add to the Gallery of Wounded Projects.

Well, I have to run and pull some muffins out of the oven. Yes, my darling boyfriend gets me to make him muffins at midnight. He has quite the little kitchen slave, no? :)